Excerpt from the April 8, 1995 Newbury Comics appearance account by John B.J. - as it's relevant to this gig:

Well, he showed up late to the in-store, and didn't take requests. After the in-store was over, I saw him standing alone for a minute and gave him my scrap of paper [with requests including 'Filthy Bird']. "I don't know if you're playing requests at all, but...."

Robyn, mulling over the list and frowning...: "No not really"

Robyn sees the last request and the frown fades: "Filthy Bird!"

I said: Yeah

but he was whisked away by Mishy (girlfriend) before I could say anything else.

THEN, at TT the Bears in between the two shows, I talked to Deni for a minute about her violin playing, and mentioned that I had a tape of this certain gig that the two of them played in that was supposedly held in the crypt of a church! I just wanted to get some more info about it, but Deni starts jumping up and down, saying "You have a tape of that show??????" She pulls me into the backstage room where Robyn and everyone else are sitting and says "Robyn, this guy has a tape of the St. James crypt show!!!!!"

Robyn: How does it sound???
Me: apart from the fly zapping machine and one of the amps blowing out (all true), good! What was that place like, was it really underground???

Robyn: Yeah...Oh---you're the FILTHY BIRD guy!
Me: Yeah, that's where I heard the song...from that tape.

Nothing much after that, except for them asking that a copy be sent to the management....it was the first gig they played together.

And then he played A Happy Bird is a Filthy Bird, dedicating it to the Republican Party. The song has a great line in the same vein of Watch Your Intelligence:

Look at the massacre on cable/ But you know it won't happen here We're all too busy watching massacres on cable/ Oh yeah

After the show, he hung around to chat and sign autographs for a bit. I asked him to sign my K records 7", and while he signed it, he said "I hope you liked the song, I rarely play that one.

I said "Yeah thanks it was great!!!"

The next night at Amherst, my wife and I talked to Deni after the show for just a minute or two, mostly about tapes and taping. I taped all four shows that I went to. She said that he has been really lenient this tour about taping, more than ever before. She said he feels like the "tape trading underground" is another avenue of getting his music heard, and that he doesn't feel like it affecting (negatively) his sales of studio releases.

He even said during that tapes of shows are better because the "songs have more life in them."

Nuf said. Anyway, I got good copies of the shows. I would love to trade with people who have taped or will tape shows from this current tour, and radio show appearances too! That goes for Jill Sobule too! Anyone tape her???

John B. J.